This invention relates generally to the detection and characterization of molecules, and more particularly relates to nanopore device configurations and corresponding techniques for the characterization of molecules.
The detection, analysis, and quantification of molecules, and particularly biological molecules, has become important for a wide range of applications, e.g., in the areas of healthcare and the life sciences. Of particular interest is an ability to carry out single molecule sensing. The development of solid state nanopores has shown great potential for the characterization of single macromolecules and especially biological molecules like proteins and DNA. Applications of such characterization include, e.g., the analysis of protein folding and the sequencing of DNA, among other applications.
Considering, e.g., the sequencing of DNA by a solid state nanopore, DNA molecules, e.g., single stranded DNA (ssDNA), are threaded through a nanopore and analyzed base by base along the strand as an electric field or other driving force causes translocation of the DNA from, e.g., a source reservoir of ionic solution through the nanopore to a collection reservoir of ionic solution. Despite intense research interest, such DNA capture by a solid state nanopore and translocation through the nanopore is currently not well understood. Indeed, in general the specific interaction with and motion at a nanopore has yet to be ascertained at the molecular level. In-depth characterization of single molecules with a nanopore, either alone or as part of a more complicated device, cannot be accomplished until a more full understanding and the control of the dynamics of a molecule's interaction with a nanopore are achieved.